History of Hmong

History of the Hmong

In Southeast Asia the Hmong as an ethnic group lived across the northern area of three different countries—Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. The Hmong lived in relative peace with the other ethnic groups of the region before and during French colonial rule, but support for United States’ military actions in Laos and Vietnam during the 1960’s differentiated them from other groups. When the United States military intervention in Vietnam led to armed conflict along the Laotian-Vietnamese border in the 1970’s, approximately 20,000 Hmong sided with the United States army and provided critical aid in reconnaissance and the destruction of the Ho Chi Minh trail (Lynch 2004: 6). However, the United States pulled troops out of Laos and Vietnam, and evacuated the countryside, leaving the Hmong—considered traitors—behind to face retaliation from those they had fought against.  The remaining Hmong in the region fled the hostile regimes of Laos and Vietnam in 1975 to settle in refugee camps like Wat Tham Krabok in Thailand.